General Election 2015

Sheldon goes after teachers, Democrats go after Sheldon for skipping work

In competing press releases sent out on Tuesday Tim Sheldon
takes teachers to task for missing work for a strike and for not
using a strike day to come to Olympia. Washington State
Democrats say that’s Sheldon operating under a “Do as I say, not as
I do,” program, citing his absences from county meetings.

For Senator Tim Sheldon, Showing Up to Work is a
“Do As I Say, Not As I Do” Issue

Republicans Held a Hearing Today on Tim Sheldon’s
Bill Attacking Teachers For Walkout, Yet Sheldon Has a Rich History
of Skipping Work

Seattle – Today, during a Senate
committee hearing on Senator Tim Sheldon’s controversial bill to
dock teachers pay for walking out in protest of the budget, Sheldon
castigated Democrats for not showing up to his political side show.
These theatrics are a lot to swallow, considering Tim Sheldon’s
rich history of skipping work in his second job as a Mason County
Commissioner.

According to the Columbian, “The Mason County Journal, the local weekly
paper in the area, reported in April 2013, “In the first 3½ months
of 2013, Sheldon missed all or part of every Monday commission
briefing session and has showed up late, left early or missed 8 of
16 Tuesday commission meetings.”

This
year, he has already missed one meeting, and
literally phoned it in for two more meetings. Sheldon has not
returned any of his income for missing meetings.

“For Senator Tim Sheldon,
showing up to work is a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ issue,”
said Jaxon Ravens, Chairman of the Washington State
Democratic Party. “This is high-level chutzpah coming from
someone who pulls down two taxpayer paychecks and refuses to show
up for work an alarming amount of time. Maybe Sheldon should quit
one of the two jobs he doesn’t do well and focus on either local
government, or writing a fair budget that ends the time-wasting in
Olympia.”

“Republicans seem to be focused on anything but
passing a sustainable budget that puts the middle class first,”
said Ravens. “If they used half the time they spent
daydreaming about the Governor’s mansion working on the budget, we
would be done by now.”

OLYMPIA… Some 4,400 teachers Tuesday declared
themselves on strike against the Washington State Legislature, and
state Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, said he was disappointed none
of them found their way to the state Capitol.

“The teacher’s union called a strike against the
Legislature, and yet not a single one of their members could be
bothered to come to Olympia,” he said. “That ought to tell you the
Legislature isn’t their real target. But it also demonstrates the
support for this strike is about an inch deep.”

Sheldon is the sponsor of Senate Bill 6116, a measure
that would dock teacher pay when they stage illegal strikes. The
bill received a hearing Tuesday before the Senate Commerce and
Labor Committee. Neither the union nor any individual teacher
showed up to defend the common practice of making up strike days at
the end of the school year. In such cases teachers get full
compensation. Intent of the measure is to deny compensation for
make-up days.

Teachers in four school districts walked off the job
Tuesday, including the state’s biggest, the Seattle School
District. They are among 57 school districts statewide that have
voted to cut class for a day. The walkouts, orchestrated by the
Washington Education Association, violate a state law that says
teachers and other public employees do not have the right to
strike. In such cases teachers get full compensation. Intent of the
measure is to deny compensation for make-up days.

“We didn’t see them in the committee hearing room,”
Sheldon said. “We didn’t see them carrying signs on the Capitol
steps. Imagine, teachers in the state’s biggest school district
walked off the job Tuesday, ostensibly to protest the Legislature,
and yet not a single one of them came down to the statehouse.

“Instead the goal was to frustrate parents who had to
take a day off work to care for their kids because the schools
weren’t open. The union leaders expect the parents to take it out
on us. I suspect the silence in Olympia today can be taken as a
sign that many of the rank and file members of the teachers’ union
are embarrassed to be participating in such a scheme. They’re good
people, and honestly, I can’t blame them.”

Sheldon observed that the Senate budget proposal
gives K-12 education a bigger share of the state budget than has
been seen in the last 30 years. The union is upset that legislative
Democrats and Republicans balk at implementing a class-size ballot
measure it backed last fall, requiring the hiring of 25,000
additional teachers and school employees at an eventual cost of
$3.8 billion. The union also protests a Senate proposal that would
provide a cost-of-living increase because the House has proposed
giving teachers a larger raise.

Sheldon noted that Democrats on the Commerce and
Labor committee staged a walkout before testimony was heard on his
bill. “I am so disappointed in my fellow Democrats for walking out
of that meeting,” he said. “The illegal strikes we are seeing this
year have made it clear that union leaders are furious. But we need
to remember it is the students and parents who suffer. There should
be consequences. I know of no other profession where you can go on
strike and still collect a paycheck for it, and when the strike is
illegal the idea that teachers are paid is even more offensive.

“Part of me wishes we’d seen a few teachers today.
But honestly, I’d rather not see them down here on a school
day.”

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One thought on “Sheldon goes after teachers, Democrats go after Sheldon for skipping work”

Wow, all of that from a group (or is it a gaggle?) of politicians that can not get their jobs done on time and on budget. How many “special” sessions will it take this year? How many of those dysfunctional elected officials in Olympia will not take a paycheck or garner any benefits from the special sessions? How many bills, rules and unfunded mandates have those same politicians created in the first official session? I do not agree with the teachers one day strikes but I hold those in Olympia in quite a bit more contempt because they have had many chances to work for the voters and taxpayers and have instead bowed to their own special interests and neglected their own responsibilities time and time again. Maybe a bill to fine everyone from the governor on down each day they allow this farce to continue is more fitting. As for teachers, that is up to the school district and its taxpayers and voters.